Hotel Rwanda is the dramatic retelling of the 1994 genocide that took place in Rwanda, leaving a million dead. I saw it tonight at my school (Amnesty International was showing it in the auditorium; me and some friends went).

The civil war taking place is between the Hutu (the ethnic group holding political power) and the Tutsi (a group of rebels). There is a third group, whose name I don't recall, but they don't play a key role in the movie. The whole reason for the groups existing as they do is because the Belgian government, who were granted control over Rwanda after World War II, split them up based on physical appearance for reasons not given in the movie. Fifty years later, the Hutu have all the power in the government and the Tutsi are in exile.

The movie picks up when the UN is overseeing a truce being signed between the two groups, when the Tutsi pull a fast one and assassinate the Rwandan president, a Hutu. The Hutu strike back, killing Tutsi everywhere. One of the few places the Tutsi can find refuge is in Hotel Rwanda, managed by a Hutu man named Paul Rusesabagina (played by Don Cheadle), who ends up taking in over a thousand refugees and risking his own life several times over to save them.

The acting in this movie is absolutely superb. Don Cheadle and the actress who plays his character's wife were both nominated for Academy Awards, and should have won them. Also, the use of things like fog, cloud cover, rain, and ambient rifle fire are strategic and fit in perfectly.

VERY GOOD MOVIE. I highly recommend it. The violence is not very bad at all and it paints a sobering picture of what went on in Rwanda and what is going on now in Sudan. Watch it.

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